Silver Chalice Wiccan 'Zine

Accidentally Invoking a Demon
and
Casting a Wiccan Circle
and
Magick: A Retrospective & Future Prospect

Harvest Season 2018

August, Sept, Oct

SABBATS:
Lammas/Lughnasadh
&
Mabon/HarvestHome/Fall Equinox

Editor's Note

Here's a question for the era:

When Is a Butterfly Not a Butterfly?

Do you remember last issue, I said I was out of the chrysalis stage? LOL!!! I was, in my mind, jumping far ahead!

Leaping Backwards

What I noticed was, as soon as I stopped feeling absolutely wrecked, I wanted to jump right back into everything that I was doing before I got sick. I was tempted back into a way of living that had contributed to making me ill in the first place: the whole mindset and way of life that was not sustaining my health or well-being.

Gifts of Major Challenges

	Learning who your true friends and family are, that's priceless!
	Realising just how far my spouse will go to keep me alive, keep me well — it's humbling and wonderful! It has given new depth and appreciation to our relationship, on both sides.
	Making time — no longer having choices or excuses — to rest, relax, connect with Earth and body in a way I hadn't found time for.
	Taking my connection with Spirit fathoms deeper! — and is that, perhaps, really what it's all been about?
	Figuring out what's actually important, and learning to let go of what's not. It still surprises me how much sorts itself out eventually, if I just let it go. That's amazing to me — so much that seems critical and urgent... can actually just NOT get done and the sky doesn't fall!
	Learning to honor myself enough to give myself space for what I need to experience and the expansiveness to grow into.
	Learning, oh so stumblingly, to be patient and be gentle, very gentle, very very gentle with myself, as I'm going through this rebuilding phase. And, despite the desires of my ego, that can't be rushed.

Choosing New Priorities

I used to put everything ahead of my health, really — does this sound familiar to you? I used to put my work ahead of my well-being because I had obligations and responsibilities to everybody that I owe bills to every month and also to my students and my readers like you. ²

²   And even just people writing to my site, who knew nothing about Wicca or my website, haven't bothered to do the reading themselves, yet wanting me to spend hours answering all their questions.

Within this balance, though, I've made a lovely, full 'Zine for you this issue, so let's get on to it!

Happy Harvest Season!

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Table of Contents

Feature Article

Casting a Wiccan Circle

What Is A Wiccan Circle?

There are places on the Earth where the wall between the worlds is thin as a veil, and ancient peoples would go there to worship, pray, celebrate, and work magick.

Wiccans can make such magickal places, wherever we are, whenever we need them.

We call it Casting a Circle, and Creating Sacred Space.

The magick Circle is a prime tool (and symbol) in Wicca. As such, it has different meanings, so let's start by getting clear on them...

Continue...

New Memes, Tips, & Inspirations for Wicca & Spirituality

Sabbats & Esbats & Other Wiccan Rituals

Here are some articles on the upcoming Sabbats, from earlier editions of the Silver Chalice Wiccan 'Zine.

Lammas: Divine Teamwork

The gardens are producing madly; the first grains have ripened and been harvested.

Like all harvest festivals, this is a time to give thanks for the gifts of the Divine. It's also a time when we celebrate our skills.

  Continue...

Mabon: Balancing the Wheel at Autumn Equinox

Equinox means "equal night." On this Wiccan Sabbat, day and night are equal forces, and now Darkness is beginning to gain the ascendancy.

As with all spiritual matters, we must ask: "What does this mean, symbolically?" Putting aside old superstition and association of "dark" with "evil," what does Autumn Equinox tell us?

  Continue...

Wicca Magick — Book In Progress

Magick: A Retrospective & Future Prospect

In the course of one lifetime... my lifetime... the Western world has undergone a radical and fundamental shift in regards to the nature of reality, and the reality of magick.

When I was a small child, magick was seen as nothing more than a fairy tale. Miracles maybe, just maybe, existed, but entirely out of the control of mere humans.

When I was a young adult, 25 years later, there were tiny sparks visible in society of those who believed there might be something more to the world than what the doctrine scientific materialism declares.

Now, 25 years after that, the belief in magick, manifestation, and co-creating reality is mainstream!

If you've come along in the last 20 years or so, it's hard to realise the astonishing transformation of thought this represents. Imagine one day taking for granted the ability for a human to naturally regrow a leg, or to bilocate (be, physically, in two places at once), or to communicate telepathically with each other and animals and plants and the planet itself.

That's similar to the scope of transformation society has gone through in a mere 25 years.

What an amazing time to be alive! To witness, and participate in, humanity's awakening to deeper levels of reality!

Dawn of the New Paradigm

Of course, the stage was set a generation or so before I was born, in the early 1900's, with the emergence of quantum theory... which, unbeknownst to most of the world, entirely turned our understanding of the nature of reality on its ear.

This revolution of awareness was so profound, in fact, that society is still struggling to integrate this knowledge.

A new paradigm of thought has arisen within this old, materialistic paradigm... not yet supplanting it, but growing by leaps and bounds. One that sees the physical world as an expression of — a shadow play of — unseen forces. One that recognises our power as conscious beings to influence and shape those forces.

Magick in Modern Times

And while the idea of magick has been around since the dawn of human consciousness, and a handful adepts have effectively worked magick in various forms in each generation, we are only beginning to understand magick in what might be called a "scientific" way....

• What is magick, really?

• What are its real-world limits: what can, and can't, it do?

• What is the process by which it happens?

• How can we harness this power most effectively?

The magick that has come down through history (especially in the West) is a result of trial and error, generally by semi-secretive people unwilling or unable to teach their society how to do it... even if the society were willing to learn. This is not disrespect. I'm sure many were truly secretive, wishing to hoard the advantage for themselves. But many others, I'm sure, would've been entirely happy to teach everyone.

If only everyone had been ready to learn.

Because the first hurdle to doing magick is the most difficult. It requires changing the way we perceive reality... and ourselves.

Now, at this unique point in human evolution, many people are ready to learn, and able to practice, magick.

Now we just need to learn how.

Imagine the first humans to learn how to create fire. It was a mysterious skill, with unpredictable results. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't... sometimes, no doubt, it worked a little too well! It was a process of hit and miss, trial and error... gradually developing into a well-ordered system of actions that produced reliable results.

This is the stage humans are now at, with magick. While more and more people teach various magickal techniques — visualisation, affirmation, manifestation, spell-casting, intention, prayer, miracle-working, etc. — the fundamental science of magick is still being discovered and systematised.

In early adulthood, I focused that quest: to discover the secrets of magick. If magick is real, what could it do, and how can we get it to do that most dependably?

That's what I want to share with you through this book....

What Do You Think So Far?

I'd love to hear from you… Please write and let me know!

Wicca Students Speak Out

Want to hear what our students
are saying about
A Year And A Day:
53 Weeks to Becoming a Wiccan?

"I have read some books, but I appreciate the more hands on approach and being accountable for my learning. I would fully recommend this course to anyone wanting to see real shifts for the better in their life! I can tell the great amount of dedication and love that went into the materials." ~ Julie W., Canada	"I continue to enjoy every lesson of the course immensely. Opening each lesson file is like opening a lovely present! Thank you so much!" ~ Pat H., USA
" The course has been amazing" ~ Bill P., USA	"I love the course as it's packed full of advice and information beyond anything I've ever found. I have never found a more powerful way to connect to the divine and gain clarity as I do now using your exercises and creating sacred space" ~ Maria H., United Arab Emirates
"This course is not for the weak-minded. It is fully-comprehensive and quite challenging, but it is so very worth every minute spent learning. I've not found another Wiccan tutorial that compares. Wicca-Spirituality is the best of the best!" ~ Tammy R., USA	"I want to say how impressed I am with the quality of this course, it's exceeded my expectations!" ~ Clinton D.., USA

Ask The Priestess:

Accidentally Invoking a Demon

Dear Priestess,

I feel like my progress [as a Wiccan] has been very good considering my background; let me explain...

My Dad was Pentecostal Preacher so I was raised in a very strict household growing up. No TV's, movies, country or rock music. The women did not cut their hair nor did they wear pants, makeup or jewelry etc, etc.

You can imagine the outlook on anything to do with the Occult.

About 7 years ago, fed up with the hypocrisy, I started searching for my own true spirituality...I won't go into a lot of detail in order to keep this as short as possible.

The one thing I have been nervous about is bringing evil spirits into my home / life. I know it is because of what has been ingrained in me since I was a child, but the fear is still there none the less. It has taken me pushing myself to keep moving forward, especially with Lesson #6 on casting a Circle and Invoking.

In short I am scared that I will invoke a demon or some other evil spirit.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Blessed be!

BP

Merry Meet, BP!

I know how difficult it is to overcome lifelong brainwashing like that. When I started, coming from a Roman Catholic background, I definitely felt some fear and worry too. That’s why I wrote those articles on Christianity and Wicca… if you haven’t yet read those, they may help: Christianity & Wicca.

I can assure you of two absolute truths:

1. Demons as they’ve been taught to us do not exist! Nor does the Devil. There is evil in the world, but it is human (or human-sourced) evil.
2. There is NO correlation between Wicca and evil / demons / devils. Wicca is a religion at worst, and an uplifting, empowering path of spiritual development at best (and the latter is what you’re learning in this course [A Year & A Day: 53 Weeks to Becoming a Wiccan]).

Why Wicca Is Anathema

Wicca/Witchcraft has been demonized (literally!) by religions that see it as a rival… or people who see women, nature, Earth, the physical body as something to be controlled and dominated.

Of course, anything can be twisted and used in an evil way, but Wicca is one of the least possible to do that with. After all, Wicca's first and only law is: Do what ye will an ye harm none!

Let's Talk About Destructiveness & Evil, Shall We?

There is and has always been immeasurably more evil and harm done in the name of christianism than has ever come of Witchcraft!

Personally, I think it’s far more destructive to deny that women and animals have souls (as is still debated in some circles today!) and to assert that the Earth is dead meat for us to carve up however we want, than anything Wicca could possibly do!

So What's To Be Done?

At any rate, do the best you can to reason your way through the brainwashing traps. And then take your concerns to the Divine! Ask for insight, guidance in this tricky issue. Ask for help and support working your way to truth, whatever it may appear to be to you in the end.

Spirit doesn’t care, couldn’t care, has never cared about what we call it and how we envision it. All it cares is how we live, what we do for others, how well we can open up the connection to its glorious Being and all the joy and bliss and love that we can discover there!

I’m not saying you should just take what I say/believe about any of this to be true and real. I know that you have the power within yourself to discover your own truth! And it may be different than mine. There’s a unique truth for every consciousness that has ever existed.

The Genuine Danger

Here is the real and only danger: Fear is more the enemy and risk than demons/devils are. Fear calls negative energy to us. What we resist, persists; what we focus on, we attract. These are fundamental laws of this universe. If we feed our fear, we feed that which we are afraid of and draw it to us.

Don’t let fear of fear kick in, though! Acknowledge that it’s popped up again. And then just keep returning to the knowing in your heart, to your deepest truths, to the experiences that have brought you the most joy and gratitude and peace… because that’s the energy signature of the Divine. When you feel those wonderful feelings, you know you’re on the right track and getting closer to God/dess.

So as well as you can, whenever the fear starts to arise, shift into deeper awareness, greater faith, more joy and love. Then you’ll call that to you. And you never need to worry about demons at all.

Thanks for asking. Bright Blessings to you!

Do you have a question you'd like answered? Email the Priestess and your question could be answered in a future issue.

(Note: questions may be edited for brevity or clarity. No real names will be disclosed. For reasons of legality, all questions become the property of Wicca-Spirituality.com.)

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Thank you so very much.

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